URL:  http://beta.applebox.com.au     (username=test, password=applebox)

Tangler Group: http://www.tangler.com/group/6893

Status: Open Beta

What is APPLEBOX?
Its your local Video store re-invented!
We do everything online - why can't we visit our local video store? See what's there and if its in or out? They've got inventory systems, just give us access to them!

Well, with APPLEBOX you now can. We're a new breed of clicks and bricks and ready to take on the big groups of VideoEzy, Blockbuster and Civic Video. Well .. almost ready ! This is a preview of the site as I bed down the technology. We are about to swing into action on the retail front and open our first store in Melbourne, Australia.

But in the meantime, I'd love it if any beta testers out there would have bash on the site and see if it holds up under scrutiny.

Cheers,
Simon (Applebox).

Checked it out quickly. The only thing I don't like is that the store looks EXACTLY like iTunes. It would probably make it familiar to most users, but it makes me think you're just stealing the interface. I think it's an interesting idea, although I believe this type of renting will be destroyed with faster internet connections in due time. This philosophy of renting movies like this is still applicable for some High definition content, but anyone who has OnDemand knows that that is simply the easiest way to get content (the problem is, there's no competition, so they are not forced to obtain as much content as they can)

Hi bjitus, thanks for looking and thanks for your thoughts! yep - you're right it is exactly like iTunes. For some this will be good, for others not so good. I have copied the interface - which is actually very hard to replicate with its stateful behaviour and cover sliding mechanisms.  On the other hand it is a skin, and with time I aim to create other skins. It is a starting point, and there are other directions I want to take it.

I'm glad you think it is an interesting idea! I think people do recognise they have a problem with their local video store - but another problem is they think the solution is Video OnDemand. At this point its not. OnDemand isn't here today. Even if bandwidth magically improved (here in Australia its pretty terrible without any immediate signs of that changing), and the consumer technology was immediately commoditised (ie a DVD player costs $60 here in Aus, everyone has got a TV), the movies are simply not available. I don't see it as an issue of competition. Studios have a DVD distribution operation they completely control, and one that is highly profitable - they make more money through the DVD distribution than the cinema release itself. They will never compromise those earnings, until they are positive it's recouped elsewhere. Going fully digital is something they don't have complete control of - yet.

If we look at iTunes movies - theres perhaps 3 at most current release movies that download at "near DVD quality". You'll pay top dollar for a movie watching experience that isn't the quality of a standard DVD. And once you've got a big screen tv, standard DVD quality (let alone near DVD quality) starts to look grainy. Blu Ray and HD-DVD aim to fix that.

But if not now - when? Ahhhh the million dollar question. Well, at the moment I just aim to make the local DVD store more relevant to at least my life. That's why I created this service in the first place! Once people start using my store, they are online. The selection process is online. The delivery mechanism - well for the moment that is the physical DVD. The future? Perhaps Video OnDemand? I'd sure be willing to expose my membership base to a partner who has the infrastructure in place for that.

Cheers!

So how difficult is it to create some of these stores. For instance, would you be willing to open new stores in the U.S. if someone would sponsor it by either donating space or money?

I love the idea of having a more luxurious, simple, and elegant store. Is it possible to replicate these stores elsewhere at low cost? And what plans do you have of doing so? I want to see a store in my home town (esp. if you carried high-def movies)!

Unfortunately for the content owners the pirates are already distributing online, so that option, though illegal, is there - they can't bury their heads in the sand and ignore the digital age because I know if I was looking for a movie to watch then free online beats pay to go and get it from somewhere every time

Paid online for legal high-quality movie... now that would be a challenger

Hi bjtitus - you've nailed it with the visuals of a more luxurious, simple and elegant store. That is exactly how I want to present APPLEBOX in its retail presence. Whilst the online catalogue is essential, and allows me to change the way a physical store is presented, I think it's the physical store that will really connect with people, even though they now spend less time in there. A portion of our lives has spread to the Internet -  we've got flickr/youtube/myspace/google and this discussion on Tangler .. but they're all global. That's great of course, it drops borders and allows me to present and interact with literally anyone. But at the end of the day, we have a local life and a local retail experience. Its about time the Internet helped out there as well.

Its not difficult to create these stores. All the work is in the software: the stores have secure private connections for the membership and inventory system. No database backups, no instore servers - but I am dependant on a business grade net connection. And yep, definitely interested in trying the idea in different countries. But, still in very early stages here in Melbourne (Australia), and I can't get ahead of myself because I'm only now about to sign a lease on my first store here - you've caught me very much at the seminal stages of this venture! And yep, high-def movies are definitely on the stock order!

Hi Super-King - Yep agreed. Piracy is here, online downloads whilst illegal, are pretty much an accepted practice by most people. I think Apple and EMI are making great progress in offering DRM-free legal downloads through their music store.

But, for a large group of people, regardless of the legality, finding pirated content is still too hard. You've actively got to find it & accept that you still don't get a full range of movie choices. I want to make it even easier for this group (and everyone) to turn their back on piracy, by creating a legal, paid service that just works better for them.

And you're right, the challenge is paid, legal, online hi-def movies - available via simple consumer equipment (aka your cheap DVD player). Until that challenge is met and truly overcome, I see the future of your local DVD store as being strong.

hehehe.. when I said high-quality I just meant "not filmed from the audience in a cinema" - not hi-def specifically

When bandwidth and storage are even cheaper than they already are, then bring it on. But when one hi-def (20gb) film takes me days to download and 16 of them swallow my hard drive whole, not so awesome

Or when HD-DVD-RWs become affordable 

OUTAGE - sorry APPLEBOX is offline, has been forthe last 12 hours.This is a problem with my host company's network.Will notify when its back up.

What hosting provider are you using?

I'm using Eventure Data (http://www.eventure.net.au) - local herein Melbourne. Its my server, co-located in a data centre theyresell space from. Well priced and good network performance, butthis is just ridiculous - my machine and others they host are stillunavailable. I've received no explanation and they aren'tresponding to calls ...

Wow..... almost 24 hrs and they haven't made contact?

nope - no contact. Lots of people are not very happy ...

BACK UP - finally back up after 26 hours of no access. I will post here: http://www.tangler.com/group/6893/discuss when I find out what actually went wrong.

That's why I bailed on Australian hosting. Held out as long as I could and tried to stick with it, but considering I can get Grid based hosting in the US capable of scaling on demand without manual input, with a base 100Gb space and 1Tb bandwidth, for US20pm, it's hard to justify the expense. There are a lot of suppliers in Australia I have a lot of respect for, but for the level of hosting I am looking for, the Asutralian market is fairly prohibitive.

Hope things get better for you, and eventure get it together. I've been burned by hosting issues before, and it's a nasty, nasty feeling.

Thanks! Certainly left me feeling vulnerable, and am now looking to move. Its the first time I've setup a project with a hosting requirement - I got an amazing deal on a decent machine (4 cores), 8gig memory and disc, and so thought I'd set it up how I like and host it locally. My audience is local, and whilst US is much cheaper, its hard to beat the snappiness and performance of locally served content. But yeah .. I certainly pay for it in ongoing costs ...